It's a Match!
by The Introverted Extrovert
Summary: When Castle and Beckett cross paths on a dating app, will this be the thing that finally brings them together or will it drive them apart?
1. Chapter 1

**This story takes place in a magical time in season 2/3 of the show where Beckett was not with Demming or Josh and Castle was not with Gina. For that, and other reasons (such as Tinder etc not really being a thing then) it's just a liiiiittle bit AU. **

**So sit back, enjoy and suspend your disbelief!**

**(Disclaimer: don't own _Castle _[unfortunately].)**

* * *

If Lanie hadn't poured her that third glass of wine, this wouldn't have happened.

That was the only way Kate could hazily make sense of the fact that she was setting up a profile on one of those tacky dating apps.

'Everyone's on them now,' Lanie had told her. 'At least half of my friends met their partner online.'

Kate frowned and was about to say something before Lanie hurriedly re-filled Kate's glass. 'Come on, girl, what have you got to lose?'

Well, her dignity, for one. The idea of putting herself out there for people to judge and decide whether they wanted to date her based on scarce information made her want to retch when she was sober.

'I'm on it,' Lanie said, taking out her phone and opening the app to show Kate. 'Look at this guy!'

Kate leaned forwards to look at the photo of a tall, broad-shouldered topless man flexing his arm to show off his muscles and wrinkled her nose. 'He's a bit…'

'Gorgeous?' Lanie suggested, before moving to the next picture of him – topless again – at the beach and looking pensively at the ocean.

'If that's what you want to think, sure.'

'Oh come on – look at that six pack!'

Kate shrugged. 'Yeah but all his photos are topless. It doesn't really tell you much about who he is.'

'Oh my,' Lanie said, her eyes widening as she came to the next photo of him.

'Wow.' Topless man was now entirely naked, with a strategically placed book to accompany the glasses he was suddenly wearing.

'See, he's an intellectual!' Lanie exclaimed before swiping right.

'Wait – does swiping right mean you like him?'

Lanie winked before looking at the next suitor to appear on her screen. 'Hmm.'

'He's cute!'

'Oh no you don't,' Lanie said, pulling her phone in towards her. 'You want to swipe, you've got to get the app for yourself.'

Kate was prepared to say no. In fact, she was going to say it after she'd taken another sip of wine but Lanie came in with the kicker before she had the chance to swallow the wine.

'You could find a date without even leaving home. Just think – you could be having a bath or on the couch in your sweatpants eating take out while you find someone you want to go on a date with.'

They stared at each other for a few moments while Kate waged an internal war with herself.

'Fine!' she exclaimed, handing her phone over to Lanie. 'Get me on it.'

* * *

It was a quiet night in the Castle household.

Alexis was out with friends. Martha had taken up some Saturday night class in gratitude. And Rick was bored out of his mind.

When nothing interesting had come up channel surfing, he'd decided to try experimenting in the kitchen. But that project finished almost as soon as it began when he forgot to remove a tiny bit of foil from the chocolate before microwaving it. Luckily, he'd stopped the microwave in time so Martha and Alexis still had a home to return to but it had been a close call.

He looked around the room critically from his perch at the kitchen bar.

It was times like this when he needed a call from Beckett about another murder.

With a heavy sigh, he looked cautiously in the direction of his study. He _could _always spend the night writing. There wasn't anything else to do and he _was_ behind on the latest deadline.

But wait!

Hadn't Esposito been talking about some dating app the other day?

He pulled his phone out of his pocket, his mood considerably lightened now that he'd escaped almost having to spend the night writing.

He was (relatively) young. He was single. He had a head full of hair.

Now he just had to remember the name of the thing.

* * *

'This feels really lame,' Kate said through gritted teeth.

'Sssh!' Lanie insisted, lurking behind Kate to find the right angle to take a photo.

Even a few wines in, Kate knew that she couldn't use a picture on the app showing her face – certain that it would either get her fired or put her in the firing line of someone she'd arrested in the past – so Lanie had insisted on taking a useable photo right then and there.

Which was why Kate was sitting on the couch, awkwardly holding her glass of wine while Lanie tried to work her magic.

'Got it!' Lanie finally exclaimed.

Kate gave a sigh of a relief.

'Actually…maybe let's try it with your hair down.'

* * *

Rick stared at the empty space for his biography.

The picture part had been easy; he'd just used one Alexis had taken of him a few years ago while they were travelling. He'd been staring out at a lake during a sunset and then next thing he knew, his precocious daughter had taken some artistic shot from behind that had blurred him while capturing the sunset perfectly.

No way was he going to use a picture that clearly showed who he was. He could just imagine some fan finding it, reporting it to the press and the next thing they'd be running some article about him being desperate and dateless. He was grateful to Alexis for a lot of things but he had to admit, he never thought he'd be grateful to his daughter for giving him the perfect shot to use for online dating.

But the biography, that was a different story. How do you capture who you are in a few sentences?

He gave a sigh and walked over to the fridge. The only thing to help in this situation was eating some whipped cream.

* * *

'Girl!' Lanie yelped. 'You've _got _to stop that.'

Kate looked up from her phone in confusion. 'Stop what?'

'Swiping left for _every_body!'

'But I haven't seen anyone I like.'

Lanie sighed and poured them each another glass of wine.

'Swiping right doesn't mean you're going to end up dating them,' she tried to explain. 'So don't hold out for your Mr Perfect on this thing – just swipe right to the guys you think could be interesting or might be slightly attractive. You've got to start chatting to someone to find out if they're right for you and that isn't going to happen if you don't give anyone a chance.'

Kate's look of confusion grew.

'See, that guy – what's wrong with him?'

'Well, he didn't write anything in his bio. And he had a different girl with him in every photo.'

'He's social,' Lanie said with a shrug before sighing as Kate swiped left on him, too. 'Okay, now _this _one's cute.'

'Hmmm.' Kate took a sip of wine as she looked through his photos. He definitely wasn't bad looking. She looked at his bio and frowned. 'Nope, no way. He's a no.'

'What now?'

'He used the wrong "your" in his bio!'

'If you're this picky after a few wines, I can't imagine how picky you must be sober.'

'Some people call it having standards.'

Lanie shook her head in despair and kept drinking.

* * *

He was in!

Sure, it had taken way too much whipped cream and then a soda to wash it down before he could get that bio done but he'd done it. And now he had entered the world of online dating!

Rick sprawled out on the couch, swinging his feet up in front of him to settle in. The television droned on in the background telling him the latest news, there was a beer next to him and in his hands was his hot ticket to the love of his life. Or, at the very least, a way to kill time for the next few hours.

'Okay,' he said to his phone. 'Show me what you've got.'

* * *

'_This _one?'

Kate considered it for a moment. 'Nope. There's something funny about his eyes.'

Lanie had all but given up. Kate had been swiping on the damn thing for almost ten minutes and hadn't found _anyone _to swipe right for. She picked up her own phone and settled in to the couch.

'That's it, you're on your own from here.'

Kate shrugged and took another sip of wine. She'd never mention it to Lanie but she was having way more fun on this dating app than she thought she would, even if it was just to laugh at badly written bios and crazy photos.

She paused for a second as the next person caught her eye. Or rather, it was the sunset that caught her eye, not the person. She couldn't make out much of him; the sunset was hitting the lake and blurring him so that he was just an outline. But there was something about it that drew her in.

'Hey Lanie – look at this one.'

* * *

'Bingo!' he said to himself as a tumble of brown curls and a glass of red wine appeared on his screen.

Sure, he couldn't see her face – could barely see anything apart from the hair and a hand holding the wine glass – but surely only someone fun loving and discreet would have a photo like that.

He opened the bio of red wine girl and smiled.

_I try to right wrongs and I play my cards close to my chest._

Brief, cute, enticing.

'Well, Nikki who is 31,' he told the screen, 'you are my first right swipe.'

* * *

'But you can't even see his face!'

'I know but it's such a nice picture.'

'Kate, that's not the sort of nice picture you go on these things to see!'

'And his bio! Look.'

Kate handed her phone over to Lanie.

_House broken individual who knows the difference between their/they're/there. Looking for a lovely lady who is up for adventure. _

'Yeah…no,' said Lanie, handing the phone back. 'That Derrick doesn't do it for me.'

'Well, it's a yes from me,' Kate said before swiping right.

A moment later, three words lit up her screen:

It's a Match!

* * *

**Review and let me know if it's worth continuing!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Wow! I wasn't expecting that response to this story. Thank you so much for the reviews!**

* * *

Kate froze, staring at the screen. 'We matched.'

Lanie looked up. 'You and sunset guy?'

Kate nodded. 'What do I do now?'

Lanie shrugged, focused on her own phone. 'You can either send him a message or keep swiping.' She paused for a moment 'Or both.'

Kate frowned. 'But why would I look for other people once I have a match?'

'Oh boy,' Lanie muttered. She should have guessed that Kate wasn't exactly the playing the field type. 'That's part of the fun of this thing – getting to know a whole bunch of different people.'

The frown deepened as Kate tried to contemplate this.

'Look, why don't you just message him and then go back to seeing what other talent is out there?'

Kate looked at her screen, considering this. She wasn't necessarily opposed to making the first move – of course, it was always nicer if the guy did it though – but what was she meant to say? Small talk was not exactly her strong point.

Lanie tried to hide a smile as she looked at her friend. 'You're going to think about this for the next few days before you decide to message him, aren't you?'

'No,' Kate said defensively before giving Lanie a sheepish smile. '…Maybe.'

* * *

Rick was on fire!

He'd lost count of the number of people he'd swiped right on but he now had twelve matches.

Of course, all good things must come to an end and he could feel the beginnings of swipe fatigue. He wondered if that was a thing – 'swipe fatigue'. It made sense to him at least: all of those choices appearing before him. How were you meant to distinguish between one person and the next?

Although he supposed that he shouldn't _just_ swipe – he should make contact with these people, too. Rick looked through his matches as he contemplated this.

She was the only one of his matches not showing her face but there was something about Nikki that drew him in. Of course, it didn't hurt that she had the same name as one of his characters but it was more than that. Maybe it was the fact that she was the one he knew the least about. After all this time working with Beckett, Rick couldn't deny that he was a sucker for a mysterious woman who kept him guessing.

'I'm home!'

Rick jumped at the sound of Alexis' voice and hastily locked the screen of his phone. 'Hey – you're home earlier than I expected.'

'Dad, it's almost midnight.'

His eyebrows shot up in surprise at this fact while Alexis walked over to him, looking suspicious. 'What were you doing?'

'Nothing,' he said quickly. Perhaps too quickly, he realised as Alexis' eyes narrowed in doubt.

'Good evening everyone!'

Rick breathed a sigh of relief at having been spared an interrogation from Alexis as Martha waltzed through the door. She shrugged off her coat and walked over to her son and granddaughter.

'Since we're all up, why don't we see in the new day together and tell each other what we're most grateful for from this passing day?'

* * *

'Well, while you think about whether you'll message sunset guy I'm going to go home and get some sleep,' Lanie told her, standing up and gathering her things.

'Wow,' Kate said, checking the time on her phone, 'it's later than I thought.'

'Yep. And I need my beauty sleep before I meet up with topless guy tomorrow.'

'Be safe,' Kate reminded Lanie as she walked her to the door.

'Promise me one thing, Kate Beckett,' Lanie said, standing in the doorway. '_Try _to have some fun on this app, okay? Not everything has to be so serious.'

Kate waved Lanie off and turned to face her empty apartment.

_Should _she lighten up a bit? Maybe Lanie was right and she needed to have a bit of fun, rather than seeing everything as a case to solve or a dark secret to uncover.

Kate gathered the empty wine glasses and stifled a yawn as she stacked them in the dishwasher. Whether or not she needed to have more fun was a tomorrow problem, she decided as she walked to her room.

For now, what she most needed was sleep.

* * *

Rick was trying to go to sleep, really – but his mind was racing and no matter how many times he tried to see how long he could lie still for, he couldn't last longer than two minutes.

It was probably all the sugar. And then the adrenaline from almost being caught by Alexis. And then having to wrack his brains for something he was grateful for that day other than entering the world of online dating. In the end, he'd settled on brewing the perfect cup of coffee that morning but it had sounded weak, even to him.

He sighed as he stared at his ceiling, deciding to see how long he could force his eyes to stay open. But when he got to five minutes and still didn't feel tired, he gave up and reached for his phone.

If he wasn't going to sleep, he might as well do something productive.

* * *

Kate hit snooze on her alarm and buried her face back into the pillow.

Her head ached a little from the wine last night and she wasn't on call today, so there was no hurry for her to get up and out of bed.

She tried to settle back into sleep but her mind wouldn't let her have it, determined to remind her of the events of last night.

Had she _really _downloaded a dating app and set up a profile? Kate groaned. Yep, yep she had. She couldn't believe she'd let Lanie talk her into that. It's amazing what can seem like a good idea when you combine a few glasses of wine with a persuasive, stubborn friend.

She pulled herself up, reaching for the glass of water on her bedside table. It was a new day. And she was going to start it right by deleting that stupid app.

She picked up her phone, ready to put her plan in action until she saw the notification on her screen.

_Derrick sent you a message!_

She unlocked her phone, ashamed to admit that she was curious to see what sunset guy had to say.

_Happy Sunday, Nikki! What are you most grateful for today?_

* * *

Kate spent her whole Sunday alternating between deciding to delete the app and deciding to reply to Derrick's message. She tried to think of a witty response to Derrick as she did her grocery shopping in the morning. When she went for a jog in the afternoon, she was resolved to get rid of the app and put the whole thing behind her.

There was nothing wrong with meeting people the old fashioned way, she thought to herself as she made her dinner.

Except, she admitted as she sat down to eat her dinner, the old fashioned way hadn't exactly been working for her.

Eventually, she caved in and grabbed her phone.

* * *

_Nikki: I suppose I'm most grateful for making it through another day with my health and my sanity._

_Derrick: Wow. That's sort of…bleak. So, Nikki, do you normally wait a day before replying to messages?_

_Nikki: Depends. Do you normally message people at 1am?_

_Derrick: Touché. I can tell you'll keep me on my toes._

_Nikki: You have no idea._

* * *

'Wow, Castle – did you not get your full eight hours of sleep last night?'

Rick narrowed his eyes at her in mock anger. 'Be nice or you won't get your coffee.'

Kate rolled her eyes and held out her hand as he obediently passed the coffee over. She'd never tell him but she felt as tired as he looked. She'd messaged Derrick for hours last night and felt like she'd barely slept before it was time to get ready for work.

'What have we got?'

'Female, early twenties,' Kate said, as they walked up to the department store window. 'The manager arrived this morning to this.'

Lanie waved at them merrily from the department store window where she was examining a corpse draped over a couch.

'What are you thinking, Lanie?'

'She was strangled but there are no signs of struggle,' Lanie told them. 'The weirdest thing so far is this.' Lanie pulled the corpse back carefully to show them a price tag hanging out of the dress.

'They dressed her in clothes from the department store?' Rick said.

'Looks that way,' Lanie said with a shrug.

Kate unsuccessfully fought off a yawn and Rick looked at her smugly. 'Seems like I'm not the only one who didn't get their eight hours of sleep last night.'

* * *

_Derrick: My co-workers picked up on my lack of sleep today._

_Nikki: Me too. Maybe we should have a ban on messages after a certain time so we don't spend the next day walking around like zombies._

_Derrick: I bet you'd make a cute zombie._

_Nikki: Isn't 'cute zombie' an oxymoron?_

_Derrick: Not when the zombie in question is you._

_Nikki: You don't even know what I look like!_

_Derrick: You're not very good at accepting compliments, are you?_

_Nikki: Not when they have no basis. I prefer to earn my compliments._

_Derrick: Well, maybe we should change that. _

_Nikki: What do you mean?_

_Derrick: If I knew what you look like, then you could accept my compliment about you making a cute zombie._

* * *

**Will Kate cave and show 'Derrick' what she looks like? Or will she find a way to get out of it?**

**Review to find out!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Thanks for the reviews! **

**In response to Kate: yes, this story is very loosely based on 'You Have Mail' (I should have said that at the beginning). And I say very loosely because I saw the movie once when I was a kid and can hardly remember it, apart from the premise being two people who know each other in real life connect online, so any other similarities are a coincidence or my subconscious pulling out things I thought I'd forgotten. :)**

* * *

_Nikki: I don't know if 'cute zombie' is a compliment I'd really like to receive._

_Derrick: How about Hot Red Wine Girl?_

_Nikki: That's slightly better, Sunset Guy._

_Derrick: Why do I get the feeling that you're mocking me when you say that?_

_Nikki: Probably because I am._

Kate breathed a sigh of relief as it seemed the conversation safely moved away from Derrick wanting to see her picture. She liked chatting with Derrick but she was nowhere near ready to show him her face yet. There was something safe and comforting about chatting with someone who had no idea what she looked like and who she was.

_Derrick: You're just jealous that you weren't sharing that sunset with me. I would have even cracked open some red wine if you were there._

_Nikki: Shiraz or cab sav?_

_Derrick: I don't know – you tell me._

_Nikki: That one looked more like a cab sav sunset._

_Derrick: There are different wines for different types of sunsets?_

_Nikki: Oh Derrick. So much you don't know._

_Derrick: I'll have to get you to teach me, then._

_Nikki: Maybe I will. But New York sunsets are almost always merlot sunsets._

_Derrick: Another thing I didn't know!_

_Nikki: Good thing you've got me to teach you._

_Derrick: Indeed ;)_

_Nikki: Was that a flirty wink?_

_Derrick: Is there any other type of wink?_

_Nikki: Friendly winks._

_Derrick: No such thing as friendly winks._

_Nikki: Of course there are!_

_Derrick: Okay, Nikki, how's this for a deal: you teach me about different wines for different sunsets and I'll give you the 101 on flirting._

_Nikki: I think I'm covered on the flirting front._

_Derrick: Not if you think winks can be friendly. Imagine all the poor men you've unknowingly turned away because you thought they were just being friendly! _

_Nikki: And on that note, I'm turning in for the night so I'm not a zombie again tomorrow._

_Derrick: Good idea._

_Derrick: Good night, Nikki ;)_

_Nikki: Good night, Derrick ;)_

_Derrick: Why Nikki; was that a _flirty _wink?_

As he put his phone down, Rick realised he must have been smiling through that whole exchange. He couldn't help it – there was something about Nikki that just made the conversation with her so natural. And so fun.

Even if she wouldn't show him her picture yet.

* * *

Kate put her head in her hands in frustration. She and Castle had spent the day chasing dead ends for the woman found in the department store window. They'd ID'ed her without a problem but she had no apparent connections to that department store and nobody seemed to be able to account for the twelve hours between when she'd left a friend's house to when she was found in the window.

'You look like you could use a coffee,' Rick said, walking up to her desk.

'I'm way past coffee, Castle,' she replied, raising her head.

'I know what you need,' he said as he sat next to her, 'a burger from that new place, Apollo's.'

Kate bit her lip, considering this. There wasn't much more she could do here anyway, and a burger did sound pretty good. Rick leaned towards her and lowered his voice, 'They say it's meant to be even better than Remy's.'

'Give me five minutes to finish this paperwork and you're on.'

* * *

Apollo's was a dingy joint, entered by an unmarked door and then down a flight of stairs. Kate looked around at the small dark room, barely big enough to fit more than about thirty people, before following Rick to a table.

'It seems more like a run down speakeasy than a burger bar.'

'I know!' Rick exclaimed. 'Isn't it great? You'd never guess a place like this would sell amazing burgers.'

Kate dubiously looked down at the menu. 'I'm going to trust you on this one, Castle.'

'Believe me – once you've finished this burger, you'll be begging for more.'

She shot her eyebrows up sceptically but kept her eyes focused on the menu, hoping he wouldn't see the blush that had crept up on her face from the tone in his voice.

What was it with Castle's one-liners and their obvious effect on her? You'd think after this long working together, she'd be able to brush these comments aside but they just seemed to become more distracting, rather than less.

'What are you thinking?'

'Huh?' Kate said, broken out of her reverie.

'Food. Which burger?'

'Um…' she scanned the menu, trying to make up for lost time. 'Chicken, maybe?'

'Done.'

He walked away to order before Kate could offer to at least pay for her meal and she leaned back in her seat with a sigh. Her stomach rumbled, reminding her that lunch had been quite awhile ago now. Hopefully the service at this place would at be quick.

To distract herself from her hunger, she picked up her phone and – ashamed as she was to admit it – found herself a little disappointed not to have a message from Derrick waiting for her. Maybe he was out tonight as well.

She opened his profile to see if he'd added anything new to it, but it was still the same bio, same sunset picture. Her heart skipped a beat as she saw the new information between the picture and bio – 'Less than 1 mile away.' She looked around the room on the off chance that he could be here, before remembering that she didn't even know what he looked like.

For all she knew, he could be the person at the table next to her or further up the block at a different place.

* * *

Rick manoeuvred his way back to the table, balancing the two drinks, as he approached Kate who seemed to be busy looking around the room.

'Missed me already?'

Kate jumped as he crept up behind her. 'Just checking for the nearest exit,' she retorted.

'I didn't know if you wanted a drink but the aviation cocktails here are out of this world,' he told her, passing her the drink and ignoring her comment.

Kate stared at the purple drink in front of her. 'It looks a bit…lethal.'

'Nah,' Rick said, with a dismissive wave of his hand. 'The champagne cocktails? Now _they're _lethal. If I wanted to get you drunk, I'd give you one of those.' He stopped to think. 'Maybe two. The aviations are tame but they taste amazing.'

She was about to take a sip before she gave a start and reached for her purse. 'I almost forgot – how much do I owe you?'

'My treat.'

'Castle.'

'Consider it an early birthday present.'

'You remember my birthday?'

'Sure I do, November 17,' he said easily, before taking a sip of his drink. 'Three days away.'

Her mouth remained open in surprise for probably a moment longer than it should have before she collected herself and put her purse away. 'Well…thanks.'

'Always,' he said with a smile as once again, Kate found herself trying to fight away the blush rising to her cheeks.

* * *

They both leaned back in their seats, empty plates in front of them.

'That was amazing.'

'Definitely better than Remy's,' Kate declared.

'Told you.'

She stuck out her tongue at him but quickly decided that took too much energy. 'I don't think I can move.'

'Yeah, I'm definitely in a burger coma,' Rick agreed. 'You know what would help?'

Kate looked at him, waiting for his response.

'Another cocktail.'

She groaned. 'No. No food. No drink. I don't even want to _think _about either of those things.'

They sat in comfortable silence for a minute before Kate gave a sigh. 'We should probably go. I want to have an early start tomorrow.'

'Fine,' Rick grumbled. 'Although I think you're mean making people move when they're in the middle of a food coma.'

'You'll survive.'

They ambled over to the stairwell, each trying to ignore how uncomfortably full they felt.

'Any plans for the big day?'

'Huh?'

'Your birthday,' Rick said.

'Oh. Work. Maybe dinner with my dad.' She shrugged. 'The usual.'

He reached the top of the stairs and turned to face her.

'That's all?'

'Castle, it's just a day,' she said, trying to fight off a laugh at the look of disappointment on his face.

'_Just a day_?' he said incredulously. 'It's the one day of the year that you get to celebrate _you_. You can eat cake for breakfast if you want!'

She screwed up her nose. 'I don't really like cake.'

'Wait – so you won't even have cake for your birthday?'

'Hopefully not.'

'_Hopefully_?' he spluttered.

'Are we going to stand here forever?'

Rick looked at Kate, just realising that they were standing face to face at the top of the stairs. In fact, if he leaned just a little bit closer, their noses would be grazing and then…

He cleared his throat and opened the door to outside before stepping out, trying to collect his thoughts.

* * *

The next couple of days passed in a haze of fruitless interviews and zero solid suspects.

Rick flung himself down on his couch on Thursday evening, in desperate need of something fun and light. And, he thought as he picked up his phone, he knew just the thing.

_Derrick: Happy Friday Eve, Nikki!_

_Nikki: Someone's excited for the weekend._

_Derrick: I'm always excited for the weekend._

_Nikki: Well, happy Friday Eve to you, too._

_Derrick: Any big plans this Friday?_

_Nikki: I'm hoping to have dinner with my dad after work._

_Derrick: No offence, Nikki, but that's a very tame Friday plan._

_Nikki: Sorry, I'll make sure I'm dancing at a strip club next Friday._

_Derrick: Much better. So, any special occasion for the dinner tomorrow?_

_Nikki: Well…_

_Derrick: …Well?_

_Nikki: It's sort of my birthday._

Rick was about to reply but then it hit him. Birthday tomorrow. Dinner with her dad. The tumble of loose brown curls. The easy banter. It was all so obvious now.

'Oh my God,' he muttered, staring at the screen.

* * *

**Review! (Pretty please.)**


	4. Chapter 4

**Sorry for the delay getting this chapter up! **

**And to the guest reviewer who protested Beckett's ordering of a chicken burger in the previous chapter, I will continue to fight the good fight for the humble chicken burger. Admittedly, I am not a former nor present New Yorker and there is a part of me that mourns missing the opportunity to have Castle tease Beckett about it. (Also, your review made my day.)**

* * *

Rick didn't get much sleep that night. _Nikki is Beckett_, he kept thinking to himself, over and over again, unsure of what to do with that information.

Should he tell her? That had been his first instinct. _You'll never believe it_, he could have replied to her message, _but I know who you are, Nikki! And you know who I am! _And then that could have lead to some fun guessing game where he would make her figure out who he was based on clues he gave her.

But would that have really worked? With Beckett being Beckett, she would most likely close up instead. Stop replying to his messages. Probably freeze him out at work, being embarrassed that she'd been discovered while refusing to talk about it. And that was an outcome he did not want.

So he hadn't sent that message. Instead, he'd fired off a quick reply wishing her a happy birthday eve and saying he had to call it a night because he had an early start the next day.

He had no idea if he'd made the right choice to hold off on telling her. In fact, he still didn't know whether he'd tell her or not. He was stalling for time.

Around 1am, he found himself wondering if it was possible she might even be happy to find out he was Derrick. She _had_ named herself after the character he'd based on her – maybe that meant something. Maybe it meant there was a chance she had feelings for him, whether or not she'd admitted it to herself yet.

And _this _thought led to him imagining (not for the first time) a world where he and Beckett could re-enact some of the scenes he'd written for Nikki Heat. A world where he cold finally get through some of those walls she kept so strongly around her.

At some point he fell into a restless sleep and when he woke up in the morning, he still had no idea whether telling her would push her away or draw her closer.

* * *

Kate's plan to treat her birthday like any other day was thwarted repeatedly before her morning had even really began.

Walking towards her desk, she passed Esposito who gave her a quick nod followed by a quiet 'happy birthday, Beckett'. Subtle, brief – she decided she could deal with that acknowledgment of her birthday.

Sitting down, she was distracted almost immediately by the glimmer of something hanging off her computer.

'What the,' she muttered, leaning closer to study it before realising it was an ornament of a four leaf clover. A frown creased her forehead as she tried to figure out who would leave this for her. It didn't exactly scream Castle but the man could be so unpredictable that she had almost come to accept the fact that you never really knew what he was going to do next.

'Happy birthday, Beckett!'

Kate jumped as a chirpy Ryan appeared next to her desk, his greeting significantly louder than Esposito's had been.

'Sssh! People might hear you!'

Ryan shrugged and sat down in the seat normally reserved for Castle.

'So what do you think of the four leaf clover?'

'It's… Wait – wait a minute, that's from you?'

'Yep,' he said proudly. 'It's a good luck charm.'

'Thanks,' she said before the frown quickly reappeared on her forehead. 'You think I need a good luck charm?'

'Um…' Ryan grappled desperately for a few moments, trying to think of the right thing to say, but was spared by a loud exclamation of 'Kate!' followed by Lanie tearing towards Kate to give her a hug.

'Happy birthday!'

Kate tried to escape from Lanie's grasp, not noticing Ryan taking advantage of the moment to make a quick exit.

'So,' Lanie said, finally releasing Kate and sitting down where Ryan had just left, 'what are your plans for the big day?'

'Lanie, you know I'm not –'

'Really a birthday person,' Lanie finished for her. 'I know, I know – but you've got to do _something _when it falls on a Friday.'

'I'll have dinner with my dad if I can leave work on time.'

'And then?'

'And then, I'll go home.'

'That's it?'

'That's it.'

'No date? Not even a drink?'

Kate shook her head.

'Come on, it's been almost a week since you downloaded that app.'

'Lanie, shush!' Kate exclaimed, looking around her. Why was she having to shush people so much more than normal on her birthday of all days?

'What about sunset guy?' Lanie whispered, leaning closer to her.

'We're just…talking,' Kate whispered back.

'Incoming,' Lanie said, standing up and looking behind Kate. 'But you and I are having drinks tomorrow night, okay?'

Before she had the chance to protest or agree, Lanie had walked away and a cup of coffee was placed in front of her.

'Happy birthday, Beckett,' Rick said as he sat down.

'Thanks,' she said cautiously, picking up her coffee and figuring she needed it to get through whatever birthday celebration Rick had up his sleeve.

'Am I looking especially handsome today or something?'

'What?' Kate asked in confusion.

'You're staring at me.'

'No I'm not.' She quickly moved her gaze to her coffee cup instead and it was then she noticed that one side of it had been covered with drawings of balloons and a cake.

'You said you didn't like cake but I figured maybe a picture of a it on a coffee cup would be okay.'

Kate's lips turned up in a smile.

'Hey!' Rick exclaimed, looking over at her computer. 'Cute four leaf clover.'

* * *

To Kate's surprise, the rest of the day passed normally. There were no more good luck charms or illustrated coffee cups. She was even able to leave work on time for dinner with her father.

She couldn't help but admit that she was surprised Castle had restrained himself to just drawing on her coffee cup. The whole day, a part of her had expected (and feared, in equal measure) a flash mob to appear singing her some birthday song he'd written just for her. Or something just as public and humiliating.

She wasn't disappointed, she told herself as she walked back into her building after dinner. Definitely not.

Kate stopped in her tracks. There was a box outside her front door, covered in wrapping paper that garishly declared 'Happy Birthday!' over and over again in different colours.

There was only one person she knew who would use wrapping paper like that.

She let herself into her apartment, placing the box on her kitchen table and staring at it.

Should she shake it first? Or just unwrap it?

'Get a grip, Beckett,' she muttered to herself, rolling her eyes and reaching for the card on top.

_Happy birthday, Kate!_

_You thought you were just getting off with that coffee, didn't you? Well, you thought wrong._

_Enjoy what's in the box and, most importantly, enjoy your birthday! If anyone deserves to, it's you. _

_Rick_

_P.S. I've seen you devour a cupcake before so don't pretend like you don't enjoy them. ;)_

She slowly opened the gift: there were the cupcakes, carefully stored in a box within a box and with various delicate decorations on top. But there was also a bottle of champagne, a novel she'd listened to Rick raving about for the past month and a container of bubble bath.

With a smile, she took the bubble bath and the book, and headed to her bathroom.

It was only as she settled into the bath that she remembered the wink at the end of the card and Derrick's comment about there being no such thing as a friendly wink.

* * *

Rick had almost signed the card off as Derrick, thinking it would be the perfect time – and maybe the perfect way – to let Beckett know but he'd changed his mind at the last minute.

To be honest, there was a pretty high chance he'd changed his mind simply because he was scared of Beckett's reaction.

But, he tried to convince himself as he sprawled out on his couch, maybe this was for the best.

Maybe this was a good way to _prepare _Beckett for who Derrick was.

He could keep messaging her as Derrick, find out exactly what Beckett liked and then plan the perfect reveal accordingly.

The fact that he got to flirt with her without fear of physical violence didn't hurt, either.

* * *

_Derrick: Happy birthday, Nikki! How has it been?_

_Nikki: Thank you! It's actually been a good one._

_Derrick: Aren't people meant to have good birthdays?_

_Nikki: Very funny._

_Derrick: So what made this one good?_

_Nikki: The usual things. Coffee. A busy day at work. Good food. Winding down with a book and bubble bath._

_Derrick: Nikki…are you in the bath right now?_

_Nikki: Wouldn't you like to know. ;)_

Rick was pretty sure he gave a small squeak. Was Beckett messaging him from a bubble bath…with the mix he gave her?

He felt like patting himself on the back for not telling her he was Derrick.

_Derrick: So a book and bubble bath. All you need is wine to make that perfect._

_Nikki: Nah. I had a glass at dinner with my dad so I'm set._

_Derrick: _A_ glass? As in singular? On your birthday?_

_Nikki: Yep._

_Derrick: You disappoint me, Nikki._

_Nikki: You amuse me, Derrick._

_Derrick: Glad to be of service._

* * *

Rick looked at his door in confusion.

It was 8am on a Saturday. And somebody was knocking on it.

He gave a sigh and ambled over in his dressing gown, hoping that Alexis or his mother hadn't signed up for some at home personal training course that would make this a weekly occurrence.

His confusion grew when he saw who was on the other side but he opened the door quickly nonetheless.

Standing there, holding coffee and the box of cupcakes he'd sent her yesterday, was Beckett.

'Come in.'

She walked over to the kitchen bench to place the cupcakes and coffee down.

'I wanted to say thank you for the gifts you left. And I wanted to share the cupcakes with someone.'

'Please tell me you ate at least one of them.'

Kate cleared her throat and mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like 'three' while she busied herself with handing Rick his coffee.

'You didn't have to do this,' he said, sitting down as Kate followed next to him.

'Neither did you.'

'Anything goes on birthdays.'

Kate opened the remainder of the cupcakes and offered one to Rick.

'You didn't happen to bring the champagne, too, did you?' he asked, after a few bites of the cupcake.

'Castle, it's 8 in the morning!'

He shrugged. 'We could have had birthday mimosas.'

Kate rolled her eyes and focused on her cupcake and coffee.

'Thank you, though,' she said a few moments later. 'It was a really nice end to my birthday to come home and find that.'

'You're welcome.'

'Do you know why I don't really like my birthday?'

Rick shook his head, not wanting to interrupt on the rare occasion that Beckett told him something private.

'When I was a kid, I used to write a list every year before my birthday of what I wanted to achieve that coming year. And then on my birthday, I'd look back on the list I'd made the year before.'

Rick was momentarily distracted by a bit of icing that was still on Kate's lip but she quickly wiped it away.

'As I got older, it seemed like the things I hadn't achieved became bigger and bigger, and there was this gap between where I thought my life would have been and where it actually was. And I don't like to be reminded of that gap.'

She looked up at Rick briefly before looking back at her cupcake.

'But lately, I've been thinking that even though my life hasn't turned out exactly the way I thought it would, maybe that's not always such a bad thing.'

He hesitated for a moment, not wanting to say the wrong thing or take it a step too far.

'I don't know where you pictured your life being by this stage. But Kate, you're doing amazing things with your life. Anyone can see that.'

She flashed him one of her big smiles and in that moment – more than he ever had before – he knew that he was completely head over heels.

* * *

**Will Castle get the courage to tell Beckett that he's Derrick? Or will the fun and games continue?**

**Review to find out! **


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